A: To tell you the truth, we’re not exactly sure. What we do know, however, is this. Simultaneously striking a blow for both originality and anarchy, 25 South African students climbed into a telephone booth in 1959 and announced they’d set the world record for a non-existent event. Not to be outdone, college students across England, America, and Canada immediately set to work honing their skills in this not-so-toll-free sport. Some M.I.T. students tried to outwit the competition using physics, while others took a simpler route by starving themselves into more compact “units.” Meanwhile, British college kids bickered over whether “official” booth-stuffing rules required teams to be able to place a call, and their Canadian counterparts were accused of cheating for using plus-sized booths. Thankfully, they all seemed to reach a truce later that year, when everyone abandoned phone booths in favor of Volkswagens as their people-stuffing container of choice.